Monday, September 10, 2012

What? This
is the classic Picard-has-a-heart episode! (Well, uh, no that would be the next
one.) It won a Hugo! It introduced this awesome song?

How can you
not include it?

Well while
the episode has oodles of heart and is very well made, there are a couple
things I don’t like about. The main one is the Macguffin. The idea of that this
satellite just happens to beam its memory ray into Picard, through their
shields and everything, stretches plausibility too much for me – and it doesn’t
have any character significance.

Here’s what
the narrative device should have been: they find the satellite and beam over a
lot of artifacts from it. Picard, Beverly, and Data are examining them and
Beverly is going on about what Wesley is learning at the academy or something.
Data notices Picard seems uncomfortable or something and, once Bev leaves, he
admits that he often wonders about his “life that could have been but wasn’t”
and family and children et al. Then Data makes some comment that’s insipid but
full of child-like wisdom and leaves him alone. Then Picard finds some artifact
which hits him with the memory ray.

An episode
that does have a great narrative
device (the near death experience) is Tapestry:

Picard and Q
demonstrate that they work better as friends than they ever did as adversaries,
as the two (plus a pitch-perfect script by Ron Moore) carry the best episode in
the franchise’s history. This episode also sets the stage for the series
finale.

For more
watch SF Debris’s review here.
I own a signed copy from Ronald Moore!

So I should
mention the episode The Visitor. While it usually tops any DS9 list, I am not
as big a fan of The Visitor as others because it cheats the audience twice:
first, by replacing Cirric Lofton with another actor as Jake Sisko and second,
by pulling an “it was all a dream” business at the end. Sure, Ben Sisko has a
memory of what happens, but no one else does: noticeably not the protagonist of
the episode.

Also the
girl who seeks Jake Sisko out is completely unimportant to us because we’ve
never seen her before and we never see her again. They should have made it
another one of the regulars or recurring characters (or perhaps a grown-up
Molly O’Brien). Or perhaps the next bearer of the Dax symbiont.

Vastly
outstripping it is the following:

Regarded
widely as one of – if not the very best – of DS9, this episode (like the next
one on our list) shows that all you need is a great script, a commanding lead,
and a cunning recurring character to make Trek gold. This episode is vintage
DS9: a host of complicated characters, shadowy agendas, and a pyrrhic victory.

Kind of an
odd title, since it takes its cue from Batman.

My bro
suggested once that it should have been called “The First Brick,” referencing
the Mark Twain quote “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” – which
Sisko actually quotes in the episode. But whatevs. This episode is also
renowned for introducing the popular Internet meme “it’s a fake”

My favorite
TOS episode, The Enterprise Incident is remarkable for several reasons. One is
that the dynamic between Kirk and Spock is just perfect: these guys really are
the world’s finest team, even when they reverse roles, with Kirk playing the
brains of the duo and Spock playing the ladies’ man.

Second, this
episode is unusual for Star Trek in that the heroes are acting rather than reacting.
Typically it’s “we are charting a gaseous anomaly and then a thing happens and
we have to deal with it.” No. In TEI, they go on a mission to bust up the
Romulans and steal their stuff.

Third, of
course is this:

A friend of mine emailed me his reaction to this episode:

think I may have had the VHS episode of that as a kid. I went back and re-watched it. Very good episode for Season 3. What struck me particularly was how every single one of the Romulans' actions was entirely reasonable, defensible, and humane. If anything, the Romulans are too naive and trusting. It was like a role-reversal of Data's Day. They try to make the Romulan commander out to be this femme fatale, but there's nothing at all treacherous about her. Consider:

- A federation ship crosses into Romulan space for no apparent reason. They do not treat it as an act of war, but open hailing frequencies to negotiate and discuss.

- When Kirk and Spock beam aboard the Romulan vessels, the Romulan ship sends two of its own officers as exchange hostages. I saw no reason for them to do this other than to foster trust.

- When Kirk has his little psychotic episode aboard the Romulan ship, they not only allow him to have medical treatment, but they allow Kirk's own doctor from Kirk's own ship to come aboard and treat him.

- Presumably, the Romulans had their shields down to allow all the transporter beaming that happened in this episode.

- The Romulans only held Captain Kirk responsible for the incursion into their space and made it clear that the rest of the crew would be released.

- After the Enterprise returns to Federation space, the Romulans make no attempt to retaliate.

- The Romulan commander appears to have harbored genuine feelings for Spock. She was hurt by his betrayal and since she had no way of knowing in advance that the Enterprise was coming, this couldn't have been some plot on her part to ensnare Spock.

Also consider:

- The Enterprise had entered Romulan space in violation of the treaty to engage in a brazen espionage mission. Romulan suspicions of Kirk's motives were entirely correct. The commander says "if a Romulan ship entered Federation space without good explanation, what would a starbase commander do?" An entirely valid question. Her first officer says "but it is you who violated our territory. Should it not be we who distrust your motives?" Again, an entirely valid question.

- Spock lied to the Romulans, violating his own ethical precepts against doing so in order to further a treaty-violating espionage mission.

- The Federation sent the Enterprise into Romulan space to steal technology from the Romulans that the Federation promised by treaty not to develop.

- It is the crew of the Enterprise, not the Romulans, who threaten to blow up their ship to prevent its capture.

- Kirk was willing to risk the lives of 400+ members of his ship's crew to engage on this very illegal and treacherous espionage mission. The Romulans had no interest in killing the crew of the Enterprise; their own captain was a bigger threat to their safety than the Romulans were.

Picard would be appalled. It's no wonder that the Romulans in the TNG era don't trust the Federation.

So Space
Seed, the episode which introduced Khan, is not on this list, although it is on
every Trek top 10 list. I excluded it because I don’t feel it stands on its
own. While it’s certainly good, it’s the follow-up movie 15 years later that
makes it retroactively great. And even then, the emotional core of Wrath of
Khan (and the rest of the film franchise) isn’t inspired by that episode – it’s
inspired by this one.

Our goals, our values had become
scattered. But since the transmission, we have modeled every aspect of our
society from your example, and it has saved us. Your courage and teamwork, and
friendship through adversity.

… plus this
scene from Futurama:

The fight
scene – friends forced to kill each other! – has been done and redone so much
that it ranks as among the most iconic scenes in all of TV, not just sci fi.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

For more
than three years, TNG tried to develop a hostile alien race that could occupy
the same space in the firmament as Klingons and Romulans. Everything they tried
until this episode failed. (The Borg could never be a regular threat; they were
only good for one episode a season.) Cardassians hit the right note, and this
episode became the inspiration for DS9 and ultimately VOY. Pretty good impact
for an episode where none of the three leading characters (O’Brien, Capt. Maxwell,
Gul Macet) are regulars: the only Picard himself plays is to coax O’Brien, question
Maxwell, and chastise Macet.

And this
scene is one of the best in the franchise’s history:

The episode's only flaw the title: should have (obviously) been called "The Minstrel Boy."

OK there are
a lot of Romulan episodes on this list (seven) and the one that started them
all definitely deserves a place. Not only did it introduce Romulans to Trek,
but Mark Lenard as well. While they would not prove as iconic to TOS as the
Klingons, the TOS concept of the Romulans would endure through the franchise
much better than the TOS Klingons did. The battle of wits between Kirk and “the
Romulan Commander” (He is never named.) keep you on the edge of your sofa, with
the one crewman’s antipathy toward Romulans/Vulcans (so soon after World War
II) the most plausible space racism in TOS.

An
unofficial companion piece to BoT, The Defector is the quintessential TNG
Romulan episode: treachery, continuity, strategy, a Romulan admiral lecturing
Picard about the importance of family, and some great Shakespeare crap. Andreas
Katsulas cemented his role as Tomalak with this one, which had the twin-bladed
effect of landing him G’Kar on Bab 5 while regrettably taking him away from
TNG.

Ah you all
knew this would be on the list. This episode has only improved with age and
rightly belongs on every Trek fan’s top 10 list. Among the best scripts in the franchise, and certainly the funniest:

Capt. Kirk: How close will
we come to the nearest Klingon outpost if we continue on our present
course?Chekov: Ah, one parsec,
sir. Close enough to smell them.Spock: That is illogical,
Ensign. Odors cannot travel through the vacuum of space.Chekov: I was making a
little joke, sir.Spock: Extremely little,
Ensign.

Korax: Kirk
may be a swaggering, overbearing, tin-plated dictator with delusions of
godhood, but he's not soft.

Baris: In my
opinion, you have taken this important project far too lightly.

Kirk: On the
contrary, sir. I think of this project as very important. It is you I take
lightly.

My favorite bit is how Kirk and Koloth are bending over backwards to be so polite to each other that they’re practically flirting.

KOLOTH: Ah,
my dear Captain Kirk.

KIRK: My
dear Captain Koloth.

And as for
the episode’s nostalgic companion piece? C’mon.

This was an episode that only DS9 could do – if TNG had done it, it would have
undermined their efforts to spread their own wings; if VOY had done it, it
would have looked like they were trying too hard; if ENT had done it, no one
would have noticed.

Also the whole idea of time travel becoming soooo commonplace for Starfleet that it needs its own X-Files-esque investigation team is a delightful bit of self-parody.

This is the watershed Q episode, where the character goes from menace to friend (so
to speak). While he’s truly evil/heartless in the three Q episodes preceding
this one, he’s actually on Picard’s side in the four that follow it.

TNG didn’t
try humor as much as it should have, but it succeeded with this one
brilliantly.

This episode also does high-falootin' well too:

Q: Don't be so hard on me, Jean-Luc. You've been a mortal all your life. You know all about dying. I've never given it a second thought. Or a first one, for that matter. I could have been killed. If it hadn't been for Data and that one brief delay he created, I would have been gone. No more me. And no one would have missed me, would they? Data may have sacrificed himself for me. Why?

PICARD: That is his special nature. He learned the lessons of humanity well.

Q: When I ask myself if I would have done the same for him, And I am forced to answer no, I feel, I feel ashamed.

PICARD: Q, I'm not your father confessor. You will receive no absolution from me. You have brought nothing but pain and suffering to this crew. And I'm still not entirely convinced that all this isn't your latest attempt at a puerile joke.

Q: It is a joke. A joke on me. The joke of the universe. The king who would be man. As I learn more and more what it is to be human, I am more and more convinced that I would never make a good one. I don't have what it takes. Without my powers, I'm frightened of everything. I'm a coward, and I'm miserable, and I can't go on this way.

This is
episode is my unsung hero of TNG, yet it doesn’t make a lot of “best of” lists
and isn’t otherwise remembered for much other than the pre-Quark cameo by Armin Shimmerman.

The reason
this episode is so good is that they find great character moments for EVERY
member of the crew: Riker is the awesome leader, Picard is the wise mentor,
Worf is the cunning warrior, Data deals with an insecurity complex (!),
Wesley’s shtick for saving the day makes perfect sense, and Pulaski isn’t
remotely annoying. Add in a great fight scene and the Strategema business and
you have a 10/10 episode.

The whole
“the time line has been changed and we need to restore it!” shtick has been so
done and overdone that it is indeed unusual that such an episode made it on my
list (though of course Yesteryear has that same plot hook). Indeed I did not
include City on the Edge of Forever, despite its hallowed status as the best in
all of TOS, because the trope has been so overdone. Also I never bought that
Kirk would fall as hard as he did for Edith Keeler – she’s too much of a Mary
Sue for him. (“Listen, kiddo, Jim Kirk was many things but he was never a Boy
Scout.”)

But this one
works, and it works brilliantly. Great Guinan stuff, great Tasha stuff, and
introduction of Worf’s fondness for prune juice. This battle where Picard says
“That’ll be the day” – while unimpressive visually by today’s standards – is nonetheless
the best action scene from TNG.

The only episode
of The Animated Series on this list, Yesteryear is a classic and a great hook
for introducing someone to that show. The story, so human and tender, served as the
inspiration for the Spock backstory in the wildly successful 2009 reboot. I
particularly love the fat little Vulcan child in this.

For a show
that’s supposed to be about a space navy and not a space diplomatic corps, Trek
does an awful lot with space diplomats. And Journey to Babel is the episode
that started it all. The introduction of Spock’s parents (ahem) humanize the
character and prove that he’s more interesting than anyone else on the show.
(We didn’t meet Kirk’s parents until 2009, and they play no real role in the
movie besides dying and giving birth.)

JtB also introduces "Live long and prosper," the second-most famous line from all of Star Trek.

The TNG episode "Family" is something of an anomaly. It's basically the third part of the "Best of Both Worlds" two-parter, but it's really more of a "coda" than a trilogy. It is the only episode of TNG without Data. It doesn't really have a plot, it's just three small stories about Picard, Worf, and Wesley. It's so unusual for Trek, that SF Debris didn't even give it a rating when he reviewed it.

Now after BoBW they had to stop and take a break - it would have been dumb to rush into another big adventure while we're still catching our breath. (They did the same thing on DS9 during the Dominion War with the Worf/Dax marriage episode.)

The real power of this episode is how it "changed the game" on BoBW. If you watch those two without "Family," BoBW are Riker episodes. But everyone remembers them (see "I, Borg," Star Trek: First Contact) as Picard episodes, thanks to this episode.

BoBW is the zenith of the Riker character, who was essentially the show's main character -- until "Family," where Patrick Stewart stole not just a scene or an episode but the whole danged show from his younger co-star.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Along with
The Wounded, this episode informed DS9 by establishing the Bajoran religion and
underscores how the show could have been even better with Ro instead of Kira.

This episode
has some delicious treachery by Romulans, a unique science fiction premise, and
both great action AND humor. While it doesn’t explore any “bigger themes” like
space racism or, uh, more space
racism, it shows that Star Trek is best when it isn’t about heavy-handed allegories and instead just tells good
stories about the real bigger themes:
life, death, love, friendship, humor.

There’s a
scene in the sub-par Pre-emptive
Strike where they could have called back to this episode, with Ro asking
Riker what he was going to say about her at the funeral, but didn’t. (DS9 or
Babylon 5 would have alley-ooped that one.)
Geordai’s closing line “… if we can teach Ro Laren humility, we can do
anything” is a terrific conclusion to a great character piece between the two
most human characters on the show.

So there’s a
term used in Star Trek: “bottle” show, short for “ship in a bottle” show. So
they can afford more expense episodes, they’ll do episodes which don’t require
any real special effects or new sets. This episode proves that – if you have a
dynamite script, actors, and music – a bottle show can number among its best.

And this
episode will be on any “best of DS9” list. Kira, and the audience, learn that
not all Cardassians are evil and not all Bajorans are good. Uh, if you haven’t
seen it and want to, don’t watch the video.

It’s success
is kind of double-edged though, because – coming in the first season – it hit
the height of the Bajorans v Cardassians stuff and everything that followed
wasn’t as interesting.

Everyone
thought this episode was setting up characters for Voyager. Alas that it was
not. While the actor playing Taurik would reappear as his character’s twin
brother in a couple episodes, they all sucked – and neither Tom Paris nor Harry
Kim were as much fun or endearing as Lavelle or Sito. Terrific episode that
shows how TNG, past its prime, could do great work – when it took its cues from
DS9.

One of the
rare highlights of TNG’s seventh season, this episode is most remarkable for
featuring a pre-Lost Terry O’Quinn as
Riker’s duplicitous former commander. That alone makes this episode sci-fi
gold. Riker’s dilemma is a very human one: an older man realizing that by doing
something “right” in his youth, he actually did something wrong – it’s the
inverse of Tapestry. And we finally get the answer to why the Feds don’t have
cloaking devices.

But the
episode’s real brilliance is this golden nugget right here:

This episode
was so good that it’s understandable that they picked it to revisit with the
Enterprise finale. … But even its presence couldn’t save that hunk a junk.

This year
for the anniversary of the airing of the
first OS episode (Sept. 8, 1966), I wanted to do a top 20 list of the best
single episodes. Note that this doesn’t include any episode that’s part of a two (or more) parter. So for example,
I love the episode Rocks and
Shoals of DS9, but it was part of the six-part Dominion War arc, which was on
my top 10 list two years ago, so you won’t find it here. Truthfully and
regrettably this keeps a lot of DS9 episodes off of the top 20 list.

Let’s start
things off at the last place you’d expect: NCC-74656

20 Lineage

I’m torn on
this episode because there are a lot of TOS, TNG, and DS9 episodes that you
could argue are better. And you might be right. But this episode is here
because, structurally, it is what every Star Trek episode should aspire to: a
real-life dilemma is played out against a science fiction backdrop, causing
believable conflict among the lead characters. Torres, ashamed of her Klingon
half, wants to genetically alter her daughter so she’ll be full human. This
causes conflict with Tom Paris and the Doctor, who believe this is unethical.
Throw in some nice flashbacks and Lineage is so watchable it could have been an
episode of Lost.

The only
other Voyager episode that was in competition for this list is Learning Curve,
because Tuvok’s perfect in it and it _actually_ deals with the fundamental
dynamic of the show (Marquis vs Starfleet), but Lineage edged it out because
it’s more endearing and the performances among the mains are so strong.